LSS News: A Pair of Professors

The Liberty Summer Seminar "...was a serious refresher on the basic principles of liberty for me, and a great chance to reconnect with other journalists and activists from across the country (including loyal readers of the magazine). But what I liked best about it was the fact that [they are] building an institution that is helping to promote the ideas of liberty through a fun annual event--really, a two-day picnic (the food was delicious, by the way). I'd encourage anyone to attend next year.."
- Ezra Levant

Hello everyone -

Ezra Levant wrote about the Liberty Summer Seminar in last year's Western Standard newsmagazine. Ezra is the publisher of that magazine, a columnist, and the author of several books, including his newest, The War on Fun, a daring expose of the politically correct busybodies that have declared war on all things, well, fun. He had plenty of warm things to say about the annual event. You can see and read the full story by following this link. Ezra has attended the Seminar twice now, and we are expecting him this year as well (yes, yes we are).

The Liberty Summer Seminar, held this year on the July 29, 30 weekend in Orono, Ontario, seeks to bring together Canada's best pro-liberty speakers with a bright and energetic audience. Hosted on a beautiful 40-acre property with a swimming pond, horseshoes, walking trails, and acres of forest, the Liberty Summer Seminar is now in its sixth year.

We have always been proud to host some very distinguished academics, and this year is no exception. One is a Member in the Order of Canada, and the other is a young Assistant Professor with several awards under his belt already. The former has never missed a Liberty Summer Seminar! Since it's very first year, Jan has given talks and mingled with the crowd at the LSS. The latter, meanwhile, has attended the Seminar in the past, but is giving his first talk this year. We're excited about both, and you should be too. Here's why:

Receiving the Order of Canada is the highest distinction that can be conferred on a Canadian. While not having been born here (Jan is Minnesota-born), Dr. Jan Narveson once confided to us that he considers himself a Canadian moreso than an American (you've lost out on this one, my American friends).

Jan is the author of several books, including the widely-respected The Libertarian Idea, and the more recent collection of his essays entitled Respecting Persons in Theory and Practice. His articles have been published in just about every philosophy journal of note, and a handful of non-philosophy journals of note. Jan is incredibly prolific, having published so many articles as to be considered Canada's most published philosopher.

Jan is now (technically) retired as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Waterloo. He is "technically" retired since he hasn't stopped teaching courses on ethics and political philosophy at the University and a few other places besides.

Also at this year's Seminar will be the up-and-coming young academic Dr. Pierre Desrochers. Currently an Assitant Professor of Geography at the University of Toronto, Pierre has already published numerous articles, and received several academic awards. Most recently, for instance, Pierre received the Faculty Excellence Award from the University of Toronto. He has also been the recipient of the Humane Studies Fellowship, was recognized by the Emerald Management Reviews Independent Review Board for top environmental management paper in 2002, and was the winner of the 2003 Young Scholars Award from the Fund for the Study of Spontaneous Orders.

Pierre received his Ph.D. at the Universite de Montreal, and was a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. He was, from 2001 to 2003, Research Director for one of our favourite think-tanks, the Montreal Economic Institute. His areas of research interest include economic development, technological innovation, as well as business-environment interactions.

We're pretty excited to have both of these outstanding academics join this year's spectacular line-up of speakers and attendees. You can be there too! Share our excitement and register for this year's Seminar. If you can help us put scholarship money together for students, let us know. And if you need a scholarship to attend the Seminar, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us to let us know. We really love to help.

Meanwhile, if you have questions, suggestions, or comments, you can hit "reply" and send me an email. If you have friends who you think might be interested in attending or knowing about this Seminar, please forward this email to them and let them know you plan on coming.

Cheers,

Liberty Summer Seminar Committee.
P.S. Don't forget about our early-bird registration fee!